EPISODE 253
Written by: Bre L. Drew
September 11, 2023
Last Time on Town and Country
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Jai and Louise dealt with the footage of her and Sean's intimate moment together in different ways while Louise was alone, reflecting on her indiscretion. Jai turned to Mala for comfort, and they proceeded to have sex.
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Meanwhile, Aaliyah begins to suffer backlash for showcasing the video among her friends and even Lorenzo.
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After performing at the music festival in Nashville, Martha was shocked to see a blast from the past.
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Jai informed Sean and Tricia about the video that caused him to strike Sean in the face and Tricia's outrage at him.
HILTON NASHVILLE DOWNTOWN, NASHVILLE, TENNESSEEE
After years of trying to achieve stardom as a musician, however, Martha Saunders couldn't stop dwelling on what, or more likely, whom she saw after performing at the Nashville Music Festival yesterday.
While with Samuel, she saw someone she thought she would never see again in the distance. Try as she might put it out of her mind, although it's easier said than done this morning while she's getting ready to leave the hotel where she and her band are to go on in a few hours,
Martha leaves the bathroom of the hotel room she and Samuel are staying in for two nights. Today's ensemble includes a navy-blue utility jumpsuit, open-toe sandals, and a brown fedora hat.
Samuel's voice gets her out of her inner thoughts.
"Huh?"
Samuel Gupta wears a white short-sleeve polo shirt with Ray-Ban shades hanging from it and a pair of jeans. "I was saying you look great," the psychiatrist compliments his girlfriend. "Hey, what's going on with you? You seem a few thousand miles away."
"I'm just a little nervous," she says. "I know yesterday we crushed it, but I don't know about today."
Samuel assembles an expression of somewhat not believing her but not wanting to push.
"I'm telling you everything will be fine, and you and the guys will kick ass per usual," Samuel says encouragingly.
Martha wraps her arms around him. "You always know what to say."
Samuel nods receptively. He then looks down at the Apple Watch on his wrist. "We need to get going,"
She looks at the time and begins grabbing what she needs on their way out.
ANOTHER BROKEN EGG CAFE
Approximately six minutes from the hotel in downtown Nashville is the eatery Another Broken Egg Cafe, where some of the young adults on the trip ventured in for breakfast takeout to take back to the hotel to eat before they had to get ready for the music festival. After Tanner Lockhart pays for the food, she and her boyfriend Presley McKnight will consume, she waits by the door for her fraternal twin sister and her best friend when she looks up to see Aaliyah Gupta entering the restaurant.
It is Aaliyah who finally breaks the ice between them.
"Hey, Tanner, can we talk?"
Tanner makes a physical gesture to prepare herself since the two hadn't said much to each other after the video of her parents was shown at her mother's engagement party.
"About what happened, I hope it doesn't affect our friendship because it means a lot to me if we don't let it."
Even though Lenny believes Aaliyah is the one behind it and there is probably enough motive behind it, she doesn't want to say anything incriminating in case she's wrong. But she wouldn't know anyone else who would do it.
"If you mean that, then you would know my mother regrets her actions, but I wonder if the person who decided to show the video in front of everyone is. Tanner wonders.
Aaliyah lowers her head while trying to hide what she did, knowing it could cause damage to their already fraught friendship.
"Maybe things worked out like they were supposed to."
Tanner straightens the strap of her purse on her shoulder while maintaining the grip of the food bag. "Well, we will never know now, will we?"
After ordering her food, Lynn Lockhart couldn't help but notice her sister talking to Aaliyah, which she can gather is about their parents and that damn video. She is weary of their so-called friend, knowing she wants her parents back together, so she would stoop to this.
She is about to confront her when she feels a hand on her arms, which she discovers belongs to her boyfriend.
"I don't think confronting Aaliyah in the middle of this place with all these people would get you what you want.
"It might not, but it sure would make me feel a lot better," she strongly voices.
He offers her a look of compassion.
"Look, I know you're protective of your mother and lowkey your father, but can we just have this one day to take it easy because before we know it, we will be back to the real world of adulting between my senior year of college and then onto law school and you working? We probably won't have that much time together, so how about it? Lay off Aaliyah for at least the time we're here in Nashville.
At first, Lenny wants to object, but she somehow obliges as she embraces him, although with her eyes on Aaliyah and her sister. She doesn't know if she can hold up her end of the bargain.
WHEELER BUILDING: APT # 303
As the peek of sunlight through the blinds of the window surrenders Mala Gupta to open her eyes, it slowly makes her recall that she didn't make it home yesterday; instead, she's in the bed of her ex-husband without much clothing underneath the covers, which isn't a usual event for her.
The prior day, she was consoling Jai over his engagement party being ruined due to the video of his fiancée Louise getting intimate with her former spouse Sean, shown in front of their friends and family. And the next thing she knew, the two were passionately making out themselves, leading them here.
Hearing footsteps enter the bedroom of the third-floor apartment, Mala then looks to verify that it's Jai Gupta carrying a mug of coffee.
"I think this is what the doctor ordered," he says.
"Bless you," she responds while receiving the hot beverage from him. "What time is it?"
"Early enough not to be considered afternoon but late enough to order brunch,"
Mala raises herself in bed as the tendrils of the mug rise as she glances over to the digital alarm clock on the nightstand, where she sees the time.
"I haven't slept in; I do not know how long," she responds, then takes a hearty sip of her drink.
Jai gives a mischievous smirk as he sits across from her on his bed. "Well, don't you think after what we did, it constitutes rest?"
While spending time in the living room, Mala finally made her feelings known for her former spouse by kissing him, although it caught Jai off guard. He gave in, and that's what led them here.
Moments of silence pass as Jai studies the worry on Mala's face while she inhales more of the coffee. "All right, what is it? And before you say it isn't anything, don't forget we've known each other too long for you to say it is."
Mala sets aside the mug on the nightstand beside her while exhaling. "I enjoyed myself last night," she admits modestly.
"But I think we should clear the air on some things."
"Such as?" he counters.
LOCKHART LAKE COTTAGE
As the morning swiftly becomes the afternoon, Louise Saunders Lockhart strolls down the stairs of the cottage. She's home alone since her daughters are in Nashville to see Martha perform over the weekend. Meanwhile, she had taken a few days to reflect on where her indiscretion with Sean had led her, which is to a fiancé who hasn't spoken to her due to the private intimate moment with Sean being broadcasted in front of her family and friends during her engagement party.
While she is about to set foot into the kitchen to get something to drink, the din of the doorbell suddenly gets her attention.
But when she obtains it, she instantly regrets doing so much due to her unenthusiasm for who is on the other side of the threshold.
"Hi Louise, I think we should talk; it's not every day that a saint becomes a sinner." Tricia Lockhart boldly proclaims
With her tone and her face, Louise doesn't have to speculate that she knows what happened between her and her husband as she shoves herself inside.
NASHVILLE MUSIC FESTIVAL
Another crowd makes up the audience attending today's portion of the Nashville Music Festival, as Martha and her band are on stage as they do a cover of "When Will I Be Loved."
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And among the audience were Samuel, Antoine Hall, Shauna Covington, Lynn, Tanner, Elijah, and Presley. While Lorenzo Vidal is in front of them, recording the performance on his phone for the band's social media account, which he runs.
Despite the severe heat and past worries, Martha belts out her set with all the intensity she brings to her performances.
"Hey Tanner," Aaliyah calls out. "I need to go use the restroom; do you mind if you can hold my purse?"
Even though Tanner and her conversation at the diner earlier was civil, for a moment, she wasn't sure they were back to the point of doing one another a favor.
But relents eventually.
Aaliyah hurriedly gives her the bag while she dashes to the least crowded place to go into it.
Lynn, who is standing next to her sister, sees what has taken place and immediately asks her sister for it, causing Elijah, who is also next to her on the other side,
"Lenny, what are you doing?"
After Martha and the band are through, they receive a nice round of applause, which Lorenzo captures. He places his phone in the back pocket of his shorts. As he turns around, he sees a guy at least ten years older than him with brown hair and piercing blue eyes in a black textured t-shirt and blue jeans with sunglasses perched on his forehead.
"You do the socials for the band, right?" the guy queries.
"Yeah, that's me," Lorenzo says nonchalantly.
The guy gives him a charismatic smile.
"I don't mean to come to you like a weirdo or anything, but I've admired what you've done for the band. I mean, they came out of nowhere, and didn't you direct their music video, too?"
The former film student directed the shoestring music video for their first video on Franklin Farm. And since then, it has received over half a million views online.
Lorenzo hadn't come across anyone with so much knowledge of his work.
"I'm sorry, who are you?
He chuckles a bit, throwing out his hand, which Lorenzo shakes. "Sorry about that. I'm Murray Hirsch; I run a talent company out of Los Angeles. And I think you're the person who can be an asset on my team."
At first, Lorenzo doesn't take him seriously. But he gives him a card. "I know it's old school. Murray says to him, "But it gets the job done. I can use someone to maintain my musical acts media platforms.
Before he can say one thing or another, he sees his girlfriend coming over to them. Lorenzo quickly puts the card in his pocket.
"Aaliyah, this is Murray. "Murray, this is my girlfriend, Aaliyah."
"I was just telling your boyfriend he's a talented content master."
"He's indeed talented," Aaliyah says agreeably.
"Nice meeting you, both." Murray says to them giving Lorenzo a head bob to indicate his offer.
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"Lenny, going through Aaliyah's purse is wrong." Tanner notifies her sister.
"And illegal," Elijah adds.
As the two of them watch, Lenny locates her iPhone and is pleased when she doesn't have a passcode to access her phone.
She goes through the phone to get to her camera app.
"She is going to be back in any minute," Tanner says to her sister, not wanting her to get caught.
"I could care less," Lenny replies defiantly.
When she sees the various photos and videos from this weekend, she finds one video that's been causing hell for everyone who's seen it.
"Gotcha!" she declares victoriously.
WHEELER BUILDING: APT # 303
"First of all, I know you're going through a difficult time right now, and I do not want you to think I'm taking advantage of it or that I have some hidden agenda," Mala informs him.
"And I want to tell you I'm not using you to get over Louise. I can't complain about how good it is still between us." Jai confesses.
Mala softly chuckles at his reaction. "Are you sure it's over between you and Louise because I will be damned if I will be a pit stop no matter what I feel for you?"
Jai grabs her hands delicately for reassurance.
"A part of me will always care about Louise, but with everything that has happened since we got engaged, we cannot come back from that," he tells her. "But you've always been there for me, and our reconnecting can be the best thing to come out of this nightmare."
Mala sighs somewhat in relief. "All right then, but for now, I think we should be a secret just in case it doesn't work out, even though that is not what I'm saying. I do not want our children to get their hopes up, especially Aaliyah, until we know if it's better the second time," she says.
Jai respectfully nods while he goes over to kiss Mala.
"Now I'm going to whip us some brunch."
Mala catches him before he leaves the room. "I know we haven't talked about it, but who do you think got their hands on that footage of Sean and Louise?"
Jai faces her with a slight shrug. "To be honest, whoever it was, I wish they would've told me in private, but it made me realize Louise will never be over Sean, and I'm thankful I know that now before we exchanged vows. Now to the kitchen, I go."
As he heads out of the room, Mala can't help but smile at her reversal of fortune, as only a week ago, she thought she would never be this intimate with Jai again, and now she's in his bed. Though a sense of reality hits her when she sees the strewn pile of clothing on the floor, she gathers her thoughts before needing a shower and getting on with the rest of her day.
NASHVILLE MUSIC FESTIVAL
Martha comes down the steps of the stage to be taken in again by Samuel.
"I guess those nerves dissipated," he assumes.
"Something like that,"
The two give each other a peck on the lips.
They are now joined by Antoine and Shauna.
"Girl, you threw down," Antoine compliments her while they hug each other.
"What he said," Shauna mentions to her best friend. As they also clasp onto each other.
"Oh, thank you," she replies humbly. "And thanks again for coming; I know it must be hard to be away from Max.
"It still is a bit, but I've enjoyed myself." Shauna admits.
She did have reversals of being apart from her husband since he's now paralyzed, and she has been assisting in taking care of him, yet Antoine helped her to relax.
"You might be wedlocked, but it shouldn't stop you from living your own life." Shauna's ex-lover proclaims that, while it didn't have to be said to understand, he still holds feelings for her.
While Antoine and Samuel talk about the weather, Martha sees him not too far away in the crowd, crossing onto the sidewalk. This time, however, he stops and waves at her, which Shauna sees.
"It looks like someone has an admiring fan," Shauna says jokingly.
Martha sighs heavily, as what she is about to express is going to send tidal waves. "That's no admirer; I give you a hint: he is partly the reason why I came home from LA."
Shauna immediately turns her head toward her best friend. "That's not who I think it is, is it?"
"Oh yeah, that is Murray, the deadbeat dad himself."
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Having had enough of this, Martha goes across the street, where Murray seems to know what she's doing, so he remains there.
"It's good to see you again, Martha; you still look good, even better."
"Please, drop that flattery bullshit for someone who buys it, Martha retorts hastily. "What are you doing here?"
"I see you're still a spitfire."
"And I see you haven't changed either, still peddling the same crap to get what you want."
"I'm here for one of my artists performing in the festival; he's got this Chris Stapleton thing going. I took over my uncle's agency, by the way. The old man decided to retire."
His uncle was Martha's talent manager when she was living in Los Angeles, although he hardly got her many gigs, and by the time she left, broke and about giving up on her dream.
"God help those clients," she says.
He humorlessly snickers.
"Small world ain't it, how's our son?"
Martha's expression on her face turns more serious.
"I'm sorry, but are you still the same Murray Hirsch who, after telling you that I was pregnant, told me that you couldn't be a father and left me to do the raising for five years?"
When she first came back to Radcliffe all those years ago, she called him to tell him about the baby, but after he admitted he couldn't do it, their conversation ended.
A shadow of shame appears over him.
"I know what I did, but he's still my kid, and I have a right to know."
Martha scoffs while moving her head in disbelief.
"You have the right to know nothing; you made your choice, and you chose yourself as usual. I hope this is the last time I ever lay eyes on you, and don't ever think about reaching out to my son; he's better off without you."
With that, she takes off, going back over to the festival, and a sense of determination develops within Murray.
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"Aaliyah, I've got to tell you something." Lorenzo announces.
"Yeah," she replies. "What's going on?"
She can tell he needs to tell her it's important. However, when he is about to verbalize something, someone else gets her attention entirely.
"Wanna explain this, Aaliyah?" Lynn asks while holding up her phone with the video of Sean and Louise playing, making
Aaliyah wonder how she got her phone, but then she remembers that Tanner had her purse.
Behind Lenny are Tanner, Elijah, and Presley.
"Fine, it was me," Aaliyah reveals, causing various reactions from them, including Lorenzo's, although he already knew.
"I was there the day they were at the cottage. It shocked the hell out of me."
"It didn't shock you enough not to record, did it?" Elijah says it observably.
"Funny that," Lenny replies sardonically. "And from the silence and stares, Lorenzo already knew too."
"Yeah, I did."
"I gave you the benefit of the doubt, but Lenny was right all this time," Tanner says with disappointment in her voice.
Aaliyah can see the hurt on her friend's face, and part of her wants to apologize, yet she isn't in favor of being everyone's punching bag here.
"I'm not some angel here but let us not forget that it was your parents that couldn't keep their hands and tongues off each other. So, if you want someone to blame for all the unhappiness, it's them, not me; I was the one warning my dad not to marry your mother."
Lenny quickly springs over to attack her, but swiftly gets held back by Presley and Elijah.
"Fighting is not going to solve this issue," Presley says empathically.
"Trust me, it will," Lenny says while still being kept from going to Aaliyah.
"No, it won't," the reverend insists.
"Come on, Crouching Tiger, Little Dragon," Elijah advises.
While Lenny gives Tanner back Aaliyah's iPhone, she, along with Elijah and Presley, go in the opposite direction. As Tanner stares at her friend, trying to find any sympathy while giving back her purse and phone, she can't find them.
Knowing the damage that has already been done, she also heads in the direction where her sister is going.
LOCKHART LAKE COTTAGE
Louise shuts the front door and turns around to glare at the woman wearing a dark purple cowl-neck sleeveless top, black pants, and her brown hair in a loose ponytail. She is holding onto the purple clutch in her possession.
"I know what I did was deplorable, but I am in no way going to talk to you about it," Louise says defensively.
Tricia makes a scoffing noise while crossing her arms.
"Louise, I don't give a damn what you want, she straightforwardly remarks. " If I knew Sean went out of town, I would expect him to be here since he has a habit of doing that.
"Wait, Sean's out of town? She asks curiously. " And how did you know what happened between the two of us? Did he tell you?
Though now it makes sense as to why Sean took time off from work at the farm, which she had found out from her mother a few days after the incident occurred,
Tricia feigns an expression of astonishment.
"I don't believe it," she states. "Something I know about my husband that you don't. I found out from your fiance—is Jai still your fiance? That you two were damn near close to starring in your own porno."
Louise waves her hand, disregarding her claim. "All right, if you came by to gloat, that's fine; curse me out, call me all kinds of names in the book, be my guest, but you have hardly any room to judge. Let's not forget how you came into our lives, Tricia."
Years ago, Tricia first met Sean when he was still married to Louise and had a family, yet that didn't stop them from having an ongoing affair.
"That's ancient history," she instantly declares, which makes Louise roll her eyes in retort. "And anyway, you're the one who's in the wrong this time. You were about to get it on with Sean, who is married to me. By the way, I can't wait to see the next terrible thing that happens to you because, trust me, I will be cheering for another downfall of yours."
"Is that all you have to say?" Louise tells her. " Because I refuse to be talked to like this in my own house. She opens the front door.
Tricia shakes her head while stepping out of the cottage, stopping in the doorway.
"I must say, you got off lightly compared to Sean. Not only did Jai leave Sean with a mark, literally,"
"Jai hit Sean?"
Tricia sneers at how amazed she sounds, hearing the concern in her voice about her husband.
"By the way, since it seems we're sharing him now," Tricia mocks. "He's in Louisiana visiting his brother Johnny, who's working on the oil rigs, and I don't know when he's getting back, but when he does, our marriage will be over. So, congratulations to us, the Lockhart women, who, for better or for worse, have stuck by a man who takes off when things get too much for him."
As Tricia's heels turn to head to her car, Louise slams the door in frustration.
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END OF EPISODE
ON THE NEXT EPISODE OF TOWN AND COUNTRY
Martha confides in Sarah Lynn
The Saunders-Lockhart women commiserate.
Daniel and Ernest clash.
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